In Search of Self Love...

every artist should watch this 35 minute movie about life as a creative soul...enjoy

View this movie at cultureunplugged.com

In Search of Self Love : 

A simple yet healing short feature video narrated by artist Rita Loyd. In this video, Rita, as an artist, tells how the creative process taught her to love herself. She also speaks about the true meaning of self-love and what she has learned in order to incorporate self-love into all areas of her life. Rita makes it clear in this video that true self-love comes from the spirit rather than from the ego. As she tells her story, the visual of the video is of her painting the image "Embrace all that you are with love." Be inspired by her simple yet powerful message.

3 strategies to breakthrough self-sabotage...

“Problems cannot be solved at the level of awareness that created them.” –Albert Einstein

as a mentor and coach, i facilitate breakthroughs...this is really ALL i do for my clients...

i walk with them as they breakthrough and claim their soul-based authentic power and passion...

i find that there are basically two types of clients:

• one who does the same things with the same mindset with the same routine day by day, month by month, even year by year...and
• one who accepts challenges, embraces change, and adapts their plans accordingly...

i often find that clients are their own worst friends...why do i say this? being your own best friend can propel you into your wildest dreams while self-sabotage can keep you stuck, blocked, or even paralyzed from moving forward and claiming your best life and career!

you cannot walk the same path every day and expect to end up somewhere else -me

you cannot keep doing the same things that brought you here and expect a different outcome...you have to find new strategies and, this is the biggie, actually implement them...

how do we get to the place where my client experiences and even expects breakthroughs?

3 key strategies to breakthrough self-sabotage...

1. Be quiet and listen to your authentic inner voice...not the inner critic, but the true voice that knows exactly what you need to do to achieve your goals. Stop listening to others or worse, buying into their well-intentioned suggestions or ideas. Accept and understand that they are on their own journey and are looking through their personal filters. It is easy to confuse their path with yours. Take time every day to quiet your soul and connect with your inner guidance system that is always 100% correct. Trust that you know what is best for you.
2. Learn that fear, doubt, and chaos are the signs of a breakthrough...if you reflect on your past you can probably find several examples of this. When you experience any tightness or painful feeling, practice connecting with it deeply and allow it to lead you to the opportunity it births. It is almost always a occasion for growth...personally, professionally, emotionally, spiritually, financially, etc. The more chaotic, painful, and frustrating the circumstance...the bigger the breakthrough.
   
3. Stop chasing perfect...perfect is impossible period! You know the drill. You must know everything...have every possibility covered...have every duck in a row...have every i dotted and t crossed...it must be just so...I am just picky! Face it...all of this is just a delay tactic, procrastination, self-sabotage at its finest...and the single biggest stumbling block for many. When you allow yourself to embrace the 'done is better than perfect' attitude of most highly-successful people, you are well on your way to fulfillment and achievement.
   

Trust your intuition, embrace fear, and let go of perfect...these steps will lead you to more authentic power, more fulfillment, more balance, and more profit.

Take Debbie Ford's self- sabotage quiz to see how you rank.

the contrast that gave birth to this desire...

There will be a time, not so far from now, that you will look back on this phase of your life and instead of condemning it or beating up on it...Instead of blaming or guilting, you will feel appreciation for it, because you will understand that a renewed desire for life was born out of this time period that will bring you to physical heights that you could not have achieved without the contrast that gave birth to this desire. -Abraham

Cre8Tiva is my muse as well as my alter ego...she waits patiently for me to return...as i have neglected her of late...and i miss her...i miss creating on a daily basis...i have let the circumstances of my life overwhelm my creativity...i have even quit my daily journaling which i have done faithfully since i was a child...

"Little Blue Boy"

my mother used to sing this to me...and i would cry and cry...

The little toy dog is covered with dust,
But sturdy and staunch he stands;
The little tin soldier is red with rust,
And the musket moulds in his hands.
Time was when the little toy dog was new,
And the soldier was passing fair;
And that was the time when our little Boy Blue
Kissed them and put them there.

“‘Now, don’t you go till I come,’ he said,
‘And don’t you make any noise.’
So toddling off to his trundle-bed
He dreamt of his pretty toys;
And as he was dreaming, an angel song
Awakened our little Boy Blue–
Oh! the years are many, the years are long,
But the little toy friends are true.

“Aye, faithful to little Boy Blue they stand,
Each in the same old place–
Awaiting the touch of a little hand,
The smile of a little face;
And they wonder as waiting the long years through
In the dust of that little chair,
What has become of our little Boy Blue,
Since he kissed them and put them there.”

your heart's passion...

passion is the life blood flowing forth from you to connect to the world...

what is your burning desire...

what keeps you up late into the night without regard to time or space...

what fuels your soul?

You must be able to passionately describe your vision. You must have a fire burning inside you. You must be driven by your dream. I received this question from a former coaching student. The following is the question and my answer...it describes my feeling about passion...

I am a fan ... read you in the The Faux Finisher all the time ... you have the life I should have had ... and hope to have something similar soon ... thank you for your inspiration and your advice ... M

M:

Thank you for your kind words. I pray that your dreams come true soon. You can always start part-time while doing another job. I did!! It takes patience, but is worth it in the end. If you have a passion for painting and believe in your skills, you can do what you love every day...I promise.

To help you do this, I will share a Secret Plan to reorienting your life around your passion. This is actually a session from my Mini Business Workshop. The plan begins with passion and leads to success.

The first step in the plan—starting from the heart and discovering your passion—by identifying your dreams. Start from any other source and you set yourself up for frustration and regret. Fulfillment comes only when the results you seek and the activities you embrace are in accordance with the person you are. You cannot look to reason or judgment for insights into your soul. Who you are is what’s in your heart.

Make A Decision, Make A Commitment

You have probably thought and dreamed about having your own business for years. All too often people convince themselves that you could not succeed. You fail to make the DECISION TO GO FOR IT.

This is the simplest step to take for your future, but many people fail to take it and live their lives with regrets. Just decide that you are going to go for it and make a commitment to make this goal a reality. It’s that simple! Do you know how many great artists are working jobs that they hate, dreaming of something else, but refusing to take this one step? It costs nothing to decide. Commitment is free. You are limiting yourself. Why?

You must be able to passionately describe your vision. You must have a fire burning inside you. You must be driven by your dream.

My second little secret to achieving your goals is writing them down. Take a sheet of paper and write the following - "I must be a decorative painter and I am committed to making this a reality." That is all you need to do now. You have taken the first step toward your dream, you have put it on paper. Now your brain can start working on how to achieve it. I am proud of you.

After you come to terms with your Dream, it is time for reasoning and rationalizing. You must clarify your purpose and define your actions—you need to think. Because the world can often dissuade you from pursuing your passion by presenting roadblocks. You must pursue it with forethought and care. Careful and thoughtful planning can help you define a purpose and set a strategy for following your Dream. This is our Business Plan

Once you have felt you passion and thought it through, it is time to act. Equipped with both your passion and your plan, you will begin to make changes in your life. This is Taking Care of Business.

If you remain true to your passion and follow these steps, you will find the results you seek. And you will also reap rewards you never anticipated because passion can take you to another level of living. It can open worlds and expand horizons. It can bring new awareness and heightened perceptions. It can empower and improve. Your idea of Success may change as you begin to fulfill your potential, but your passion will propel you onward to even greater achievement and happiness.

so what point am i trying to make with this? last night i spoke with one of my mentors. He asked me about my new business model and asked me to describe it. I faltered at first and then went on to describe 2 or 3 business models i am trying to marry... He listened and then said, "Rebecca, you have a track record and an established brand with the Doing What You Love. You have credibility and name recognition, why do you want to change that?"

this was written about me a few years ago:

A master decorative painter, widely-read columnist, popular motivational speaker and instructor, Rebecca E. Parsons has spent over 30 years honing her craft. For the past fifteen years she has been advising, mentoring, and consulting creative entrepreneurs worldwide. Her knowledge of the business and her passion for successful entrepreneurship have made her the industry’s most recognized advocates for business success. Her book “Do What You Love–Love What You Do, The Step–by–Step Guide to Creative Business,” is hailed as the best business guide on the market.

so i am wondering why i have lack of clarity and focus at this time...i need to follow my own advice and teaching...i opened my book this morning searching for the passages about passion and realized i need to sit down and read my own book!!! and do what i have always told students to do -- ACT!!!

energy of incomplete work...

i invite you to follow this blog...just click at top right...

here are some paintings that are incomplete..or so i thought when i started this post...but the more i look at this top image the more sure that i am it is finished...so it is...

'a single tear' - 2009 acrylic, plaster on canvas

back to the topic...do you know the energy of incomplete work...

how many incomplete, half finished, or unstarted works are stealing your energy?

everything has energy...and things undone are thieves of creativity...they steal little bits of your energy by remaining in a state of limbo..subtly leaking energy...and the more little bits of energy that are being taken from you, the less creative energy you have to devote to the present works begging to be born...

i took a walk around my studio yesterday...i noticed several pieces that i have begun, with great intentions, yet abandoned somewhere along the way...they call to me every time i enter the space..."remember me?"..."help me" ..."finish me"...

if you have left some things unfinished in your life or your studio, perhaps they are using energy that could be better used in your present...for the present IS your life...

how to spot your energy stealers...attune your senses, mentally take orientations, be alert to negativity and energy stealers in your personal space...

then neutralize them by taking an action toward finalizing them or repurposing them or omitting them..undertake a mental and physical spring energy cleaning...

sometimes i even pick these unfinished works up and remember the moment that image came to me...the need to create it...other times i actually take it to my table and work at it...then put it away again...

i have come to understand that, if i did not stick with it until it was finished, perhaps it should be abandoned entirely...repurposed, reconditioned, reinvented...the materials used in another way...and when i do this i often find a remarkable work that developed out of fragments of other work from other times in my life...

so i am starting a series called 'fragments' that will use these old, unfinished works...in a different way, a new way...with new energy...i am also clearing away, simplifying my life...starting tomorrow i will begin selling my collection of art making supplies...please bookmark the blog or favorite it so you can see when new thing are added...it could be just what you need to finish a work...

Today's Intention...uncover the unfinished work in my life that is leaking energy...and finish or repurpose it...

standing in my own way...

"standing in my own way" - 2009 acrylic and plaster on canvas

this painting just happened as so many of mine do...most of you know by now that art is prayer for me and i believe The Artist is a Spiritual Explorer...so i will share my creative process and let you peek into the experience of this painting...

when i create i set an intention asking the universe (God for me) to let flow through me what i need to know...this opens me to any possibility and clears they way for happenstance and synchronicity to emerge...

i sit with the canvas and my palette...when i feel pulled toward a color i dip my brush and off we go...i am usually going to paint a background for future work when something appears that takes me in a surprising and new direction...this is what happened during this painting session...

i have been troubled lately by thoughts that i am off my life's path...a feeling of wandering helplessly without any destination...like i am moving under water, v e r y   s l o w l y....

so this painting started with a thin coat of venetian plaster (so it will have a fresco look and feel)...then it went to aqua, very wet with lots of movement...then yellow as the sun shining through the water...the figure began to emerge and became more distinct, too distinct i thought...so i scraped it back a little with the edge of a spatula (the tool used to apply the plaster)...as i scraped the second figure appeared very close in front of the first figure...with bright light bursting forth...

at this moment i understood the message...i am standing in my own way...for a variety of reasons that i do not need to share here...yet the message came through loud and clear to me...

when i finish painting i usually sit with the painting and let it speak to me...i usually journal during this process...this painting had much to say to me...if you look closely to the left of the standing figures you can see another figure seated in a chair...with head slightly bowed...it is my spirit waiting patiently for me to get past this obstacle and get back on my life's path......

WOW! POWERFUL STUFF...

i am sending your here to read a powerful post...it is exactly where i am today....that crossroads is here...choices i so do not want to make or hoped i never would have to make are upon me...and i must step out blindly on this path of mine, not knowing what lies ahead or even if there is an ahead...but i must move on anyway...my heart beating and i wonder why...

Today's Intention...to get out of my own way and resume my life's journey...

don't wait for perfect...

'home work' - 2009  natural objects, beads, string, found objects, and acrylics on paper

this is a piece i dreamed up years ago (2001 to be exact) but never brought it to completion until i joined facebook, found an old friend who makes similar pieces, and sells them...DUH!!!

for those among us trying to figure out what we should be doing at this point in our lives...i offer this:

"If you're waiting to have a good idea before you have any ideas, you won't have many ideas." - David Allen, Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity.


my school teachers were right...i do have an over active imagination...i have thousands of ideas...i am a great brain stormer, problem solver, idea woman...


i am a master of idea generation...but i suck at implementation...


i dug out my old journal/sketchbooks last week and began flipping through the pages...there, among the decades of sketches and musings was the idea for this piece...




i even wrote "i can't wait to create one of my own."


but wait i did...almost 8 years...as with this piece...

i find it is not so much procrastination and laziness (although those can be mitigating factors in my nonperformance)...it seems to be that little voice in my head that says:


do you have self-sabotaging voices? do you let ideas flounder in procrastination? are you doing what you were born to do?

if NO is the answer to any of these...i will share a secret that has made me a success in my business life...

DONE IS BETTER THAN PERFECT

and

MARKETING TRUMPS MASTERY

don't wait for it to be a perfect idea before you implement...don't wait for the perfect beginning before you start...don't wait to draw the perfect sketch before you paint..

DON'T WAIT FOR PERFECT

perfection is an illusion...conditions are rarely aligned perfectly...you may never have ALL the money, ALL the time, or ALL the knowledge you desire to begin...the naysayers and critics will always be around...become a recovering perfectionist...

JUST START SOMEWHERE AND THE REST WILL FOLLOW

BIG NEWS COMING SOON...

i will begin selling a lifetime of art supplies for mixed media in the next few days...i am simplifying my life...please check back for more details...